Our apologies, good friends, for the fracture of good order, the burning of paper instead of children, the angering of the orderlies in the front parlor of the charnel house. We could not, so help us God, do otherwise.... The time is past when good men can remain silent, when obedience can segregate men from public risk, when the poor can die without defense.

"Meditation" written before burning the draft files at Local Board No. 33 and entered as evidence in the trial of the Catonsville Nine.